Things to do in Chartres
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Chartres
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months, long evenings for the lights, gardens in full order and full opening hours.
Shoulder season bargain, the lights relaunch and blossom fills the bishop's gardens.
Lights are glorious but start around 22:00, some independents close in August and midday cathedral crowds peak.
Lights start around 18:00, making a cosy winter trip of lights, dinner and an early bed.
Worst stretch apart from Henri IV weekend, lights finished, Picassiette reduced and gardens bare.
What's on
- Chartres en Lumières 11 April 2026 to 3 January 2027
Over twenty sites lit nightly from dusk, to 1am and to 23:30 from late October.
- Fête de l'Eau June
The river festival, with boats and festivities along the banks of the Eure.
- Fête de la Musique 21 June
Free music fills the old town, as across France.
- Fête de la Lumière September, biennial in odd numbered years
The festival climax of Chartres en Lumières, with street arts and 50,000 to 70,000 visitors. No 2026 edition, next in 2027.
- Weekend Henri IV Late February
Marks the only king crowned at Chartres, with poule au pot on menus across town.
Best things to do in Chartres
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres
The most coherent great Gothic cathedral in Europe, keeping most of its original 13th century stained glass.
Chartres en lumières
More than twenty monuments become light shows nightly from April to early January, free and self guided.
Maison Picassiette
A road sweeper covered his whole house and garden in mosaics of broken plates over 26 years of obsessive work.
Centre International du Vitrail
Stained glass at reading distance, with demonstrations and bookable workshops where you make your own panel.
Basse Ville
Washhouses, stone bridges and half timbered lanes along the slow Eure, with the cathedral rising above the roofs.
Église Saint-Pierre
The cathedral's quieter sibling, with precious medieval stained glass at eye level and almost no one inside.
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Chartres
A former bishop's palace behind the cathedral, worth it for the terraced gardens and valley views alone.
Les Fresques de Bel Air
Over 4,000 square metres of trompe l'oeil frescoes retelling Beauce history across ordinary apartment blocks.
Where to stay in Chartres
Cathedral Quarter and Old Town Plateau
first trips and romance
The glass at opening time, dinner in the old lanes and the light show as your walk home.
Place des Épars and Station Edge
value, arrivals and one night efficiency
Five to ten flat minutes from the cathedral and the station, with the city's grandest and most reliable hotels.
Place Drouaise and North Old Town
drivers and budget stays
Walkable to the cathedral quarter with easier road access and parking than the plateau.
Basse Ville along the Eure
quiet and river views
The prettiest streets in Chartres, traded against a steep climb to the cathedral several times a day.
Think twice about
- Outlying commercial and roadside zones near the motorway exits
Not unsafe, but car dependent and charmless, cut off after dark from everything you came for. Central budget hotels cost little more.
- Avenue François Arago roadside hotel strip
Roadside properties far from the old town with no evening life. Use them only for a motorway stopover, never as a Chartres base.
Best restaurants in Chartres
Le Georges
Chartres' starred table since 2009, modern classical French cooking built on Eure et Loir farms.
Le Moulin de Ponceau
A former mill on the Eure serving refined seasonal cooking, the romantic dinner pick in the lower town.
Les Feuillantines
The locals' gastronomic bistro near the cathedral, traditional French cooking done with finesse.
Terra
Polished Italian cooking that gives mixed groups and vegetarians a proper dinner on a longer stay.
Brasserie La Cour
The Grand Monarque's broad menu brasserie, the group safety net for a first night dinner in Chartres.
L'Estocade
Generous classic French cooking with a loyal local following, at better value than the cathedral square.
Café Bleu
A bistrot facing the cathedral, open daily to midnight, with generous plates and the best view in the city.
La Table de Julie
A small seasonal French room with a vegetarian friendly kitchen, intimate and good for couples.
Outdoor things to do in Chartres
La Véloscénie
The signposted Paris to Mont Saint Michel cycle route, with a flat greenway ride along the Eure to Maintenon.
Parc des Bords de l'Eure
The locals' riverside park, with lawns, a seasonal guinguette, play areas and cathedral views from the paths.
Golf Chartres-Fontenay
An 18 hole course in Eure valley parkland seven kilometres from the centre, welcoming green fee visitors.
Château de Maintenon
Madame de Maintenon's château, formal gardens and a canal ending at Vauban's romantic unfinished aqueduct.
Chartres Montgolfière
A dawn or dusk balloon flight over the Beauce wheat plain, with the cathedral as the centrepiece of the view.
L'Odyssée
One of France's largest aquatic complexes, with pools, slides and wellness areas that solve hot family days.
Château de Châteaudun
A medieval keep and Sainte Chapelle on a rock above the Loir, a Loire side day without the Loire crowds.
La Tanière - Zoo Refuge
A rescue refuge for big cats and primates in large enclosures, with keeper talks telling each animal's story.
Best hotels in Chartres
Best Western Plus Grand Monarque Hôtel & Spa
Chartres' grande dame hotel, with a large spa and the starred Le Georges under the same roof.
Hôtel Le Boeuf Couronné
A family run house in the cathedral's shadow, with 17 rooms and some offering a direct cathedral view.
Hôtel Mercure Chartres Centre Cathédrale
The reliable modern chain option, a short walk from both the station and the cathedral with zero surprises.
Campanile Chartres Centre Gare Cathédrale
The best located cheap sleep in the city, 200 metres from the station and ten minutes from the cathedral.
B&B HOTEL Chartres Centre Cathédrale
A modern budget hotel on Place Drouaise, walkable to the cathedral quarter and easiest for drivers.
Is Chartres expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €75 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €145 a person |
| Splurge | €300 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Centre International du Vitrail: weeks ahead
- Golf Chartres-Fontenay: a few days ahead
- Chartres Montgolfière: weeks ahead
- La Tanière - Zoo Refuge: a few days ahead
- Best Western Plus Grand Monarque Hôtel & Spa: weeks ahead
- Hôtel Le Boeuf Couronné: weeks ahead
- Le Georges: weeks ahead
- Le Moulin de Ponceau: weeks ahead
- Book central hotels weeks ahead for spring and summer weekends and pilgrimage dates.
- Le Georges needs weeks for a Saturday, and the other top rooms need days.
- Reserve stained glass workshops, cathedral tours and balloon flights before you travel.
Is Chartres safe?
- Chartres has no area visitors need to avoid.
- The genuine hazard is steep cobbles that ice in winter and slick in rain, so wear proper shoes.
- Watch bags in the Saturday market crowd and on the Paris train.
Chartres travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The two hour Paris day trip is the main trap, since the light show needs an overnight stay.
- Generic cathedral square menus charge for the view, so walk two streets for better value.
- The fine arts museum is pleasant but modest, so do not give it hours owed to the cathedral.
- Do not drive into the old town lanes, use the plateau car parks and walk.
Getting around Chartres: public transport and more
- Walk the centre, but expect steep cobbled lanes between the plateau and the Eure.
- TER trains from Paris Gare Montparnasse take about an hour, roughly hourly.
- The last evening train to Paris is typically around 23:00, before the summer light show begins.
- Use Filibus buses for Maison Picassiette and L'Odyssée, and a car or taxi for La Tanière and the golf.
Who Chartres suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Chartres your trip
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